


Why Must I Be a Teenager in Love

by number7even



Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Flirting, Fluff, Friendship, Gen, M/M, No incest!!!!!, Number Five | The Boy Needs A Hug, all the hargreeves will make appearances dw, also idk how old i’m making five so, and a friend who isn’t his sibling, five rlly likes old books, fluff?? i guess??
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-15
Updated: 2019-04-15
Packaged: 2020-01-14 11:17:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,131
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18475156
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/number7even/pseuds/number7even
Summary: Going to the library was a pastime of Five’s. Seeing his current read in the hands of a boy his age would normally bring on annoyance and frustration, but he leaves the library the next week with warmth in his chest and a friendship bracelet on his wrist.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> new work!!  
> not rlly edited but i’m kinda in love w this one so far

Going to the library was a pastime of Five’s. But unfortunately, being in the public eye meant not having the luxury of walking to the library like he wanted. He could barely step outside the Academy without being bombarded by photographers and reporters. No, thanks. That was Allison’s thing, not his. 

 

So he resorted to his teleportation power to get him where he wanted to go. The library wasn’t far from the house, but it still made Five almost pass out having to use so much energy at one time. It would be after training and before tutoring with Pogo. Numbers One through Seven would be in their respective rooms going about their own business. Five disappeared during this time and no one noticed. Not even Mom.

 

But he didn’t really mind. 

 

Five teleported from his impersonal bedroom to the restroom of the library. He didn’t want to make a scene; he wasn’t Klaus. The librarians wouldn’t notice him, so Five would wander from section to section and find a book to his liking. Then, he would find an empty chair, beanbag or bench and read. He usually finished them in one sitting, but he’d been on a certain monster of a book for about three of his visits now. It was Russian and nihilistic; crammed with war and love. He went to pick it out of the shelf but was surprised to see that someone had pulled it out. It was the only copy the library had. Five went up to the front desk to put his deduction to work. 

 

The old librarian smiled down at him from her place at her desk. It wasn’t that Five was short, this lady had pushed up her chair’s height to its highest setting. She was quite small, actually. Five imagined her feet not even touching the floor. 

 

“Can I help you, young man?” she asked. She smelled like shortbread. Five wondered if talking to librarians was as close to having grandparents he would get. 

 

Five told the librarian the book’s title and his situation, and she nodded along easily.

 

“Well, I can look up in the computer, if you like.” she suggested. “We have this crazy new system now where we can update a book’s availability right here!” She gestured to the boxy computer in front of her. “It’s quite easy, once you get the hang of it.”

 

The Cheshire Cat grin Five gave seemed to please her, because she chuckled and started to type noisily on her keyboard. 

 

“Let’s see, here…” she paused, “Oh! That book hasn’t been taken out. Someone must be reading it in the building.” She shrugged. “Seems like you’ll have to do some hunting, sweetie.”

Five thanked the nice woman and went on his way. He didn’t feel like looking for a new book, and he had left on a cliffhanger and didn’t want to forget anymore of what had happened. He walked among the tables of readers and note-takers searching for the cover of his book. 

 

It was near the back of the library that Five found a boy probably his age reading his book with a stack of more novels next to him. Pretentious bastard. 

 

Five slid into the seat across from where the boy was reading. “Hello,” Five started pleasantly enough. 

 

When the boy didn’t respond, Five repeated himself again. And again. And again. He was getting frustrated. He reached over the table and lowered the book from the boy’s line of vision so he would look at him. Five put on a sarcastic grin. 

 

“That’s my book.” 

 

The boy looked at Five with disinterested eyes. “Last I checked,” he said, “it was on the shelf of a public library, so isn’t anyone’s until they check it out.”

 

Five maintained his grin, but his brows furrowed. “I’ve been reading that book for days. You have a shit ton of other books to read,” he gestured to the boy’s pile of books. “so maybe give me my book?”

 

With a loud and dramatic sigh the boy closed the book and set it down. “Don’t you have a personal library at home or something?” he asked, raising an eyebrow. Ah, so he knew him. 

 

Five scoffed. “Yes, actually.” He folded his hands on the table. “But, if we’d ever get caught even looking at something like this,” he gestured to the complicated Russian novel, filled with revolution and individualism, and grimaced, “Dunno what the old man would do.” 

 

The boy’s mouth twitched. 

 

Five went on. “Our library has books written mostly by men like my father: old, white, selfish, and too rich for their own good.”

 

“Those are always the most boring ones.”

 

With raised eyebrows Five exclaimed, “Exactly!” and leaned back in his chair. Hands still rested on the table, he gave the boy a good once over now that the tension was somewhat settled. His hair was in gelled spikes (Five would never understand the trendy hairstyles his siblings seemed to like), and his grey eyes were framed with black rimmed glasses. His outfit was a dramatic contrast with Five’s schoolboy blazer and shorts; he was wearing a T-shirt advertising some band Dad would rather have an aneurism than ever listen to. On his right wrist were frayed friendship bracelets and on his left a slap bracelet wristwatch. If Five has ever seen this guy walking down the street, he’d hate him. Why did he not hate him now?

 

For a moment neither of the boys said anything. Just looked at each other, mouths turned slightly upward, with the contested book between them. Finally the unnamed boy broke the stalemated silence. He reached his hand across the table for Five to shake. “I’m Zack.”

 

“Five,” hands were shaken and they settled into another silence. “What?” Five responded to Zack’s questioning stare. 

 

With a dismissive wave of his hand, Zack explained, “I always thought that the whole numbers thing was for the public,” his hand rested on the book pile and lightly tapped on it, “Didn’t realize you all actually went by- well, your numbers.”

 

Seeing Zack distracted, Five attempted to reach for his book before Zack’s hand flew from the stack to holding the book in its place. Five let out an irritated breath through his nose and looked up at the other boy, who was grinning. Bastard. 

 

“At first,” Five started, “the numbers were what we all went by. We use them now as kind of,” he hesitated to give in to the stereotype, “codenames, for missions. The old man will eventually want us to have real names, for publicity purposes, but I’ve been Five all my life.” 

 

Zack nodded in response. After a contemplative moment passed, he glanced down at the book and slid it across the table to Five. 

 

“You can have it today,” he said, “Next time it’ll be mine.”

 

Five raised a brow. “There’ll be a next time?”

 

Zack scoffed, but to Five it sounded like an amused laugh. It was a good laugh. Five opened his book where he left off and easily slid away from the library and into an aristocratic Russian ball. Ten minutes passed before either boy said anything. Zack lowered the book he’d plucked from the top of his pile and hesitated before saying, in a hushed voice “You know,” Five snapped his head up from its place in the book, “I like Five. It’s different.”

 

Instead of giving a response, Five presented his best grin and delved back into his book, laughs and friendship bracelets on his mind. 


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Friendship bracelets and peanut butter and marshmallow sandwiches.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i like this one a lot hehe

It became a kind of a routine. Anytime Zack didn’t have school and had the time to visit the library Five would find him at their usual table with a stack of books and a book placed in front of Five’s seat. Since Five finished the first book he’d been reading their first time he’d started taking recommendations from his counterpart. Really, it was Zack forcing recommendations onto him. Each day when Five teleported into the library and found Zack at their spot, a new book would be sitting in front of Five’s place. He finished them in one sitting, of course, and after that the two would usually talk for a bit until Five glanced at his watch and had to outrun the dinner bell. 

 

One one particular day, Five stopped before sitting down at the table because not only was a book waiting for him, a navy blue and red bracelet sat on top of the recommendation. Five touched it carefully and feeling the small braid of the yarn and the knot joining the two ends together. He looked up to Zack, who, as usual, hadn’t looked up to greet Five. 

 

“The hell is this?” questioned Five. 

 

Without looking up, Zack responded, “ _ A Separate Peace _ by John Knowles- we read it in school last month and I thought you’d like it.”

 

With a roll of the eyes Five pressed further. “Not that,” he picked the bracelet up from the book with his index finger and thumb, it was so small, and went, “What is this for?”

 

Zack heaved a sigh and finally acknowledged Five with a stare so deep and serious Five thought the bracelet would burst into flames. “That,” he intoned, “is a friendship bracelet. You give it to someone you’re friends with.” He narrowed his eyes. “You do know what friendship is, don’t you?”

 

Scoffing, Five replied, “No shit, I know what friendship is.” He eased himself into his chair, now grasping the bracelet, “Just-“ he laughed, pitiful to no one but himself, “I don’t know what to do with it.”

 

Zack shifted in his seat. He wasn’t really sure how to respond to that. “Well, if you don’t want it I can-?”

 

“What? No, I’m keeping it, obviously.” Five recoiled from Zack’s reaching hand and slipped on the bracelet. It was barely loose on Five’s small wrist but still gave him room to move his hand around. Just right. Five looked up to see Zack staring at him, eyes soft and barely smiling. Nothing like the death stare before. 

 

A door slammed somewhere within the library, and as soon as the moment began it ended, both boys opening their books. In between chapters of Gene obsessing over his friend Phineas, Five would take a couple moments to look at this new accessory that complimented his uniform so well. 

 

  * \-    -



 

That night, after dinner, Five heard a knock on his door. Opening it he found Vanya, holding up a peanut butter and marshmallow sandwich in greeting. He held the door open some more and stepped aside to let her in. 

 

“You didn’t eat much at dinner today, so I made this while Mom was charging up.” she whispered. Ideally, everyone would be asleep at this time. Luther and Allison were probably in the greenhouse doing whatever  _ Flowers in the Attic  _ activities they got to up there, Five had seen Klaus’ red eyes and jittery mannerisms enough to know his nights were occupied; and wherever Klaus went, Diego and Ben followed. The whispering, if not for show, was precaution as to not awake Dad. 

 

“Thanks, Vanya.” he smiled. 

 

Over the last month or so Mom had been christening each child with a name, correlating with where they’d been born. Vanya, the Soviet Union, Luther, Germany, Klaus, Sweden, Diego, Puerto Rico, Allison and Ben, England. She hadn’t gotten around to Five yet. He was hoping she never would. 

 

Five took the offered plate and sat on his bed, Vanya following behind him. The ordinary girl looked up at her brother, fond and admiring. Out of all the siblings Five was the kindest to Vanya, but to be fair it didn’t take much to do better than blatantly ignoring her like Luther did. And although Five was on the shorter side, Vanya still managed to come up to only his neck. 

 

“So,” Vanya said, fiddling with the sleeve of her pajamas, “what’s that bracelet from?”

 

Stopping right before biting into his sandwich, Five looked at his sister. He thought he’d done a good enough job hiding that damn thing under his sleeve, but Vanya notices things more than the others give her credit for. 

 

“None of your business.” he snapped. Vanya flinched, a wounded expression crossing over her face before relaxing into her usual neutral affect. Five instantly regretted what he said. “I’m sorry,” he apologized, “but, it’s a secret, okay? I’d get into a lot of trouble if Dad found out.”

 

Her eyebrows furrowed and she asked, “Who do you think I’d tell?”

 

She got him there. 

 

Five sighed. “Okay,” he heaved, “but no one can know. Not even Mom, okay?” Vanya nodded seriously. 

 

Five set aside the untouched sandwich and looked ahead of himself, ignoring Vanya’s probing stare. “In between training and dinner,” he whispered, feeling so vulnerable to being caught he looked back at his door to make sure it was closed (there were no locks). “I’ve been teleporting to the library and reading books. And I met a guy, and he gave me the-“ he scoffed, feeling like a damn schoolgirl, “He gave me the bracelet today.”

 

Vanya didn’t say anything for a moment, then he heard her breathe out a light giggle. “So,” she laughed, “you’re friends?”

 

Five looked back at her and smiled with her, finding a laugh in his cold heart. “Yeah, sure.” he concurred. He reached for the sandwich and split what was left into two and handed the bigger half to his sister. “Here,” he offered. Vanya gratefully took the sandwich and happily tucked into the treat. 

 

After a moment, Vanya remarked soothingly, “You seem happier lately.” taking the last bite of her half of the sandwich she expanded, “You’re not arguing with Dad or Luther so much. And, honestly, I didn’t think you had the muscles in your face to smile as much as you do lately.” 

 

Thinking for a moment, Five admitted, “Yeah, I am. Happier lately, I mean.”

 

  * \-   -



 

After the bank robbery, after becoming public, the old man wanted all uniforms to be retailored and fixed up by Mom. This is how Five found her, in the living room with her sewing kit hemming skirts and sewing on Umbrella Academy patches. He especially noticed a bag of said patches by her side, definitely a few to spare. Five sat next to her on the couch and greeted her. 

 

“Hello, sweetie.” Mom cooed, looking up from her work and giving Five a warm smile. “Is there anything you need?”

 

“Actually,” he claimed, “I was wondering if I could have one of those patches?” he gestured to the bag.

 

Mom looked down at him quizzically. “Why would you want a loose patch, darling?” she wondered.  She looked down at his uniform. “That one isn’t coming loose, is it? I could fix that for you, you know.”

 

Five placed his hand over his patch and assured his Mom, “No, no, my patch is fine. I just,” he cautioned, “I would like to put one on my messenger bag, by myself.”

 

Mom continued to stare down at him curiously, but reached into the bag and produced a patch. “Well, alright,” she affirmed kindly, “Just be careful with that iron, you could burn yourself.”

 

He thanked his Mom and went off to his room, ready to teleport to the library with Zack’s present in his back pocket. 

  
  
  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> some good Vanya and Grace content!!  
> Also two chapters updated today bc i love this work a lot so :))  
> comments and kudos are appreciated but not required  
> see you next time!


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Introducing: Klaus!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i know. i knowwwww.
> 
> it's been a while.

Upon opening his door, Five found Klaus sprawled on his unmade bed with a cigarette between his fingers and a bottle of hotel liquor by his side. Hearing the creak of the door Klaus’s head snapped up from its place on his pillow and broke into a dazed smile. 

“Brother, dear!” he greeted. “Come to test the capabilities of your bloodstream?” He held up the small bottle of nondescript alcohol. Five rolled his eyes and found a place to sit not covered by clothes or candy wrappers. 

Everyone saw Klaus going down That path. He was leaving training early, and since Dad saw no use for his medium skills for missions his absences were hardly noticed. Besides Ben’s disappointed affect and Vanya’s short trailing behind her brother, no one else really said anything. Five hadn’t bothered to feel anything toward his brother’s spiral until recently. Certain revivals of emotion can really do that to a person. 

“Just here to talk to you, Klaus.” said Five while crossing his right leg over his left. Klaus perked up even more from that (or from something else, Five could never tell).

“Oh, cool!” he stood up from his bed, ash falling from his cigarette to the carpeted floor. “Whadya wanna talk about, dude? Training, knives, music, girls?” 

Five smiled at his brother’s limited topic calibre. “Not any of those, actually.” He looked down at fidgeting hands and wondered why he was so worried. “I wanted to ask you something, I guess some would consider it a touchy subject.” Klaus nodded. 

“Why did you out yourself on public television?”

Klaus let out a heavy sigh that sounded more like a raspberry. His comical ‘thinking face’ was on, but Five could see the cogs in his brain working a little. “The thing is,” Klaus started, “I was on, basically a whole drugstore that day.” He took a break to laugh at the memory. “And, y’know, Allison always gets asked about boys and it’s exhausting! All they ever wanna know about us is our powers, or how we’re doing in school, very rarely Luther gets a question about girls, I’ll give him that. It’s just- I wanted them to know Allison isn’t the only one in the Academy thinking about boys.” 

After saying all that in one breath Klaus heaved a big sigh and fell to the ground (somehow gracefully) to sit in a criss-cross style. Five saw past his brother’s quirky demeanor and half hearted answer. Five remembered that day pretty well. After the show Reginald was talking over damage control with the publicists and he saw Klaus looking proud and pleased with himself. Everyone was mad at him, including Five at the time, but he remembered Vanya walking up to Klaus and giving him a small squeeze on the shoulder. After that Dad dragged Klaus out of the studio for one on one training for the weekend. Five doesn’t remember Klaus looking so proud after that. 

Klaus reached up to his bed for the bottle of liquor and uncapped it. After taking a swig, he paused for a moment before asking, “Why do you ask?”

Without thinking Five’s right hand touched his left wrist, feeling a familiar braid. Klaus didn’t notice. “Just curious.” Klaus nodded, looking a bit deflated. Five stood and turned to go before saying over his shoulder, “It was really brave of you to do that, I guess. Needlessly stupid, but brave.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry for such a short chapter!!  
> i've had realllly bad writer's block for like two months  
> i promise it'll get better !!!

**Author's Note:**

> HEY GUYS.  
> try and guess what book five was reading i dare u  
> i already have a kinda basic outline for this, but i dunno when i’m gonna be updating so just be on the lookout!!  
> comments and kudos are appreciated but not required  
> see you next time!


End file.
